Toho Kingdom

^ Agreed. And to give the english dub a bit more credit, I'm fine with the idea of kaiju 'talking' to one another through telepathy, I just wish their, well, telepathic voices fit their characters/designs.

I always though it was funny that often the same people who trash the four movie Shobijin just listed are the same ones who'll forgive the flaws of movies like Godzilla vs Mothra or Godzilla vs Destroyah...

I think this one is just OK. The human story and characters are kinda cool, but the cockroach villains are stupid, none of the monsters show up for an hour in, the scene with Godzilla and Angurius talking is so weird, the scene of Gigan and King Ghidorah fighting the military for like 10 minutes is dull, and the very final scene is terrible, BUT...It has entertaining moments, especially the big climatic battle at the end of Godzilla and Angirus vs Gigan and King Ghidorah. That fight makes this movie worth watching.

Overall, I'd say this one has a lot of good moments, but just as many bad. It's 50% good, 50% bad. I'd probably give it a solid 6/10.

jackzilla wrote:the cockroach villains are stupid

I don't find them particularly more or less stupid than any other Toho alien invaders.

eabaker wrote:

jackzilla wrote:the cockroach villains are stupid

I don't find them particularly more or less stupid than any other Toho alien invaders.

When compared to the likes of the Devo's of MZ, the Slug people of DaM, and the ape people of MG/ToM I would say they are pretty tame.

eabaker wrote:And they win the day with the power of manga artwork! (Okay, and some explosives.)

This bit always confused me.. It's been a LONG LONG time since I've seen this so I don't remember every bit of the movie but why the giant poster? Couldn't they have just sent up the explosives? If I recall as well is was b&w.. that suppose to fool someone?

They could have just sent up a bomb, but that would have gone against the theme of the movie. This film has a theme of over dependence on machines. The roaches had absolute trust in their machines and weapons, and then they lose to people whom are able to think and act without computers or machines. All they need is imagination and some explosives. Besides, the roaches wouldn't be expecting a drawing in the elevator.

What I love about the poster is that how much time Gengo must have spent simply drawing the thing. How much suffering did Godzilla and Anguirus go through while he doodled up a poster of him and his friends? There's no way he just so happened to have a self made poster of him, his bitchy girlfriend, and two crazy people he just met laying around. The assault on the Godzilla Tower probably could have begun hours earlier if they didn't have to wait for him to make the poster.

Oh and the crazy woman's brother scientist so that's five people.

It reminds me of the Interpol agent using some string to turn on his car in Mechagodzilla. Not quite as fridge 'wait a minute' as the drawing but up there.

The drawing is only a fridge moment if you're looking for naturalism of any kind in the movie.

Even if they had enough budget for an original soundtrack, I doubt Ifukube would've been willing to do the score.

The music score was just fine in my opinion. It fit the tone of the movie.

I'm actually thinking of picking this one up finally, along with Megalon and Godzilla's Revenge. Those, along with Son of Godzilla and Space Godzilla, are the only ones I don't own. I saw them as a kid, but haven't bothered since because I heard they were bottom of the barrel G movies. And maybe they are (or maybe they'll surprise me), but I'm in a mood for just a goofy/fun G movie. Plus I've got young kids who will probably appreciate them at some point, and Gigan is one of my favorite monsters.

I also want to finally get King Kong Escapes.

mschenk wrote:I'm actually thinking of picking this one up finally, along with Megalon and Godzilla's Revenge. Those, along with Son of Godzilla and Space Godzilla, are the only ones I don't own. I saw them as a kid, but haven't bothered since because I heard they were bottom of the barrel G movies. And maybe they are (or maybe they'll surprise me), but I'm in a mood for just a goofy/fun G movie. Plus I've got young kids who will probably appreciate them at some point, and Gigan is one of my favorite monsters.

I also want to finally get King Kong Escapes.

Gigan. He's so ridiculous but it works. I have Godzilla revenge still in its original shrink wrap. Gotta have a complete set!

mschenk wrote:I'm actually thinking of picking this one up finally, along with Megalon and Godzilla's Revenge. Those, along with Son of Godzilla and Space Godzilla, are the only ones I don't own. I saw them as a kid, but haven't bothered since because I heard they were bottom of the barrel G movies. And maybe they are (or maybe they'll surprise me), but I'm in a mood for just a goofy/fun G movie. Plus I've got young kids who will probably appreciate them at some point, and Gigan is one of my favorite monsters.

I also want to finally get King Kong Escapes.

I would definitely not call Son of Godzilla or Gigan bottom of the barrel. I think Son is the best G-flick Jun Fukuda directed; the cast are really engaging, and Sadamasa Arikawa's effects sequences generally make better use - to my sensibilities - of the widescreen frame than most of Tsuburaya's or Nakano's. Gigan is a bit more of a period oddity, but the absurdity is really embraced in the script, the production design, and the direction. It's one of the most explicitly post-modernist Godzilla movie (King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Hedorah and maybe Final Wars are about the only other obvious examples).

I'm going to buy Son of Godzilla too at some point.....when I can find it for less than $50. I'm actually not sure if I've ever even seen it or not. I read the synopsis and I know Godzilla's Revenge reused a lot of the footage. I'm hoping it will get a rerelease when the new Legendary Godzilla movie comes out.

Does this device evoke any thoughts related to this film? :

Not G vs Gigan, but it does remind me of the helmets worn by the Mysterians.

Oops, that post is in the wrong thread! I meant to post it in The Mysterians Talkback thread, mods please feel free to move it.

Finally broke down yesterday and bought Godzilla vs Gigan, Megalon, and Godzilla's Revenge. Now the only G movies I have left to own are Son of Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla. (Still haven't sat through Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth all the way through yet either, though I own it...) Gigan should be arriving tomorrow, but I had to get Megalon from an Amazon seller because it was out of stock.

Added in 16 hours 26 minutes 10 seconds:
Watched it last night and I liked it better than I expected. It's definitely one of the weakest G movies, but not the worst, and I enjoyed it. Basically I got exactly what I wanted: a cheesy monster movie that I could have a beer with. There wasn't nearly as much stock footage as I thought there would be. I was under the impression 90% of the monster scenes would be stock footage, but it was more like 20%, and I didn't mind it that much. I was surprised how much blood there was for an entry that was supposed to be geared more towards children. The story was also better than expected, even if the aliens' plan didn't totally make sense. Why would they build Children's Land to brainwash the children of the world that monsters/alien insects aren't all bad, only to unleash Ghidorah and Gigan on the cities? I understand they were summoned to kill Godzilla, but why wreak havoc on the population?

Also wasn't this the movie where Godzilla was supposed to talk at the end? Where was that? I've seen clips of it online, but the kraken blu ray I bought didn't have it.

mschenk wrote:Also wasn't this the movie where Godzilla was supposed to talk at the end? Where was that? I've seen clips of it online, but the kraken blu ray I bought didn't have it.

Did you watch it in English or Japanese?

In the English dub, Godzilla and Angilas speak before they leave Monster Island. In the original Japanese version, they had dialogue balloons, but those aren't in the print used for international releases.